From cyberpunk to calm urban computing: Exploring the role of technology in the future cityscape

In this paper we will present studies aimed at uncovering the attitudes, needs, and expectations people have towards novel types of urban computing technologies deployed in a city. First, we conducted a storytelling competition to elicit future visions of how people imagined the role of technology. Second, we conducted a rapid ethnographic study using a mock-up prototype device in various public locations to gain a deeper understanding of how people would appropriate a specific technology, namely interactive public displays. Lastly, we collected ethnographic material through a diary study and interviews where people recorded their use of existing technology, and through these experiences, imagine how future technologies might affect their lives. We found that these methods proved useful in engaging a city's community to imagine the city's future. Consequently, we were able to explore the current use of technologies in the city and project their possible future use. Contrary to previous speculation in academic and cyberpunk literature, we conclude that digital technologies will not necessarily induce an abandonment of physical urban spaces. Rather, we project an increased sophistication in the sociable uses of urban spaces and technologies, where people blend their online and offline worlds into a single lived reality.